Judiciary

A water drop and ripples

The scale of NYC’s banana-republicism is difficult for most people to fathom.

By Justin Katz | February 29, 2024 |

But Mark Steyn clarifies it with his usual panache: … one hears so much breezy chit-chat in America about appealing this and appealing that one takes one’s appellate rights for granted. Not so. In order to appeal, a losing party has to post a bond for the amount at issue. … This is no small…

Edwin Lord Mills A Royal Procession

Politics This Week with John DePetro: When Czars and Chiefs Become Politicians

By Justin Katz | January 16, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the dislodged line between politics and administration in Rhode Island government.

Mother touching baby's hand

No issue is as revealing as abortion.

By Justin Katz | May 3, 2022 |

As a conservative writer in Rhode Island, I find it difficult to know where to begin a reaction to the apparent, likely, or maybe only as-yet possible decision of the United States Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade this session. The place to start, I suppose, is with the biggest and most-obvious point.  Unless our…

A water drop and ripples

The parental-rights narrative is always being framed.

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2021 |

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it characterized as “doubling down” before when a party to a lawsuit has appealed to a higher court, but here’s Sarah Doiron on WPRI: Several parents who are challenging the state’s school mask mandate are doubling down on their efforts by appealing a Rhode Island Superior Court judge’s…

Gavel with a speech bubble

Bringing the “equity” charade to RI’s judiciary is extremely dangerous.

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2021 |

Of course Katie Mulvaney would fail to include a single expression of contrary concern about a survey finding (surprise, surprise) that many identity groups involved with the Rhode Island judiciary believe they have suffered from discrimination there in her Providence Journal article.  Apart from journalists’ general agreement with the progressive talking points, who in Rhode…

A stack of boxes outside a door

Politics This Week with John DePetro: In and Out of Power and Everything In Between

By Justin Katz | September 20, 2021 |

John and Justin talk about people and groups that are in and out of political races and trends.

Parents have to stand up for their kids’ rights, as they’re doing in Rhode Island, but beware the judiciary and media.

By Justin Katz | September 17, 2021 |

It’s encouraging to see that some families in Rhode Island have had enough and are willing to take to court to defend their civil rights, as Kim Kalunian reports on WPRI: Sixteen parents and grandparents have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Dan McKee over his statewide school mask mandate. The complaint, filed in Providence Superior…

First Circuit Court of Appeals building

Haughty First Circuit Court Rebuffs Gaspee Project’s Appeal to Protect Donors

By Justin Katz | September 16, 2021 |

The First Circuit’s ruling in Gaspee vs. the Board of Elections is a bad omen, but the contempt the judges show is worse.

Mother touching baby's hand

The Thomas More Society has entered the lawsuit against Rhode Island’s abortion “codification” statute.

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2021 |

Not so surprisingly, I haven’t seen much news concerning a lawsuit pro-life organizations filed in 2019 against the state’s new law “codifying” abortion into law in case Roe v. Wade is overturned.  There has been a development, however, according to Brian Fraga of the Rhode Island Catholic reports: In its brief, which was submitted to the Supreme…

Statue of justice

Standing does matter in our legal system, but our courts are undermining it.

By Justin Katz | June 29, 2021 |

Writing from the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, GianCarlo Canaparo offers a short explainer of why standing matters in legal proceedings and how the judiciary is currently making a mess of it. Both of those points are valuable to read, because the reason to limit cases based on standing…